


a spark soaring down through the pouring rain

by orkestrations



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is Bad at Feelings, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Good Friend, Autistic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Autistic Logic | Logan Sanders, Bullying, Discrimination, Gen, Logic | Logan Sanders Is A Good Friend, Misgendering, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Purebloods (Harry Potter), Ravenclaw Logic | Logan Sanders, Slytherin Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Trans Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Trans Male Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Transphobia, virgil is very firmly in the closet currently
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21651394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orkestrations/pseuds/orkestrations
Summary: Virgil is starting his fifth year at Hogwarts. Despite the whole realizing-he's-trans thing that happened last year, he's ready for another year to go exactly like the last four: he's unimportant, barely known (except for his reputation as mean and intimidating), and he'll keep his head down and make it through another year (maybe).That all changes, though.First, it's a couple of overly-friendly Ravenclaws barging their way into his and Logan's compartment.Second, hismugglebornbest friend's little sister gets sorted into Slytherin, and Virgil can't just... let her get hurt without at leasttryingto help keep her safe.Third, well, it all goes downhill from there, because the tensions that have been heating up in the magical world are reaching their boiling point.(title from the songbeautiful timesby owl city)(expanded trigger list in the notes)
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	1. we were the kings and queens of promise

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Brief History Of Virgil](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14884247) by [mandeebobandee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandeebobandee/pseuds/mandeebobandee). 



> so i took HP and turned it into my sandbox. i kept Voldemort, and the Death Eaters, and the professors, but threw out pretty much everyone else who's an. actual canon character. my city now.  
> so, Voldemort's gonna be a thing in this, but there's no prophecy. someone just got a lucky shot in when he was vanquished the first time.
> 
> big warning: Virgil is currently closeted to everyone except for a few people, so he will consistently be misgendered and deadnamed by other characters.
> 
> the rating might go up in the future. i would also like to state that there is a huge potential for Deceit/Light Side ships in this story.
> 
> chapter title from _Kings and Queens_ by 30 seconds to mars
> 
> more specific content warnings for this chapter: bullying; discrimination; a moment of minor transphobia (like blink-and-you'll-miss-it); a brief mention of voice-related dysphoria; betrothals; brief allusions to death (thestrals); food

No one recognized the teenager sitting on his own in the compartment. He wearing an oversized black hoodie, jeans, and a pair of shitkickers with his hood up over his head.

Now, his parents would’ve had an aneurysm if he’d worn those clothes in front of them, but that was why he’d worn a robe over them and kept his hoodie hidden away. No need to let his parents know that he wore muggle clothing, after all. He wasn’t _that_ brave.

Someone opened the door and he glanced up, peering with through a veil of curly black hair with odd-colored eyes. A tall boy with dark brown skin and short hair, wearing a button-up with a blue tie, was standing in the door to the compartment, holding it open. A small, slender girl with a similar skin tone and short, natural curls was almost hiding behind him, with her sleeves pull up over her hands.

“Hello, Virgil,” the boy said. “Do you mind if Svetana joins us?”

“The more the merrier,” Virgil replied, his voice monotone. Svetana ducked under Logan’s arm and entered, with Logan following her and closing the door behind him. He shoved both his own and Svetana’s trunks up overhead and then sat down across from Virgil, Svetana sitting next to him.

“Svetana, this is Virgil,” he said, gesturing to the other teen, who lifted a hand briefly. “You can only call him Virgil when it’s just the three of us, though. Outside of this group, you need to call him Mel or Melantha and refer to him like you would a girl.”

“ _Just_ Mel,” Virgil cut in.

Svetana nodded. “Okay,” she said. “He’s like Danielle?”

Logan nodded back. “Yes.” He turned to Virgil. “Danielle is our cousin, who is also trans.”

“Good for her,” Virgil replied, tone blunt.

It looked like the three of them _might_ get the compartment to themselves for the whole train ride. That would be nice—

Ah, nope, he thought too soon. The door to the compartment opened.

“Hi, Logan! And… friends?” A short girl with long, wavy brown hair and fair skin stood in the doorway. Behind her, a tall girl with pale skin and dark eyes looked down at them, saying nothing. “Do you mind if Tsetsiliya and I ride with you? We could find somewhere else, too, but so far all the compartments have been full, and then we saw you and I was like, why don’t we ride with Logan, and Tsetsiliya was like, but there are other people in there, and then I was like, we can ask! So here we are.”

“ _I_ don’t mind if you sit with us,” Logan replied, glancing over at Virgil, who shrugged.

“Sure, whatever,” he replied. Logan blinked at him, a little surprised, while Hazel stared at him.

“Y’know, I couldn’t tell you were a girl at first, with that hoodie and all.” She picked up her trunk and shoved it up top and then took Tsetsiliya’s trunk.

Virgil _almost_ kept his mouth shut, and honestly, he should’ve, except his temper was cut a little shorter than it normally was, so he snapped back, “ _yeah_. That’s the _point_.”

Hazel paused and glanced down at him.

“Oh,” she said, and then finished shoving Tsetsiliya’s trunk on the rack. Tsetsiliya closed the door as she and Hazel sat down, Hazel next to Svetana and Tsetsiliya next to Virgil.

“You can speak freely,” Tsetsiliya said. “Hazel introduced me to the concepts of being transgender and non-binary last year. I find that the idea of just… _not_ having a gender, is nice.”

Hazel grinned at Tsetsiliya while Virgil snorted.

“Funny,” he said. “ _Logan_ was the one who introduced me to them last year, too. Perhaps it’s some sort of muggleborn conspiracy, to turn all the good purebloods trans.” Sarcasm dripped from his last statement as he sneered at nothing in particular.

“Yes,” Logan replied, tone dry. “We all had a meeting last year and decided, all together, that we would make sure there was no gender left un-transed. You’ve discovered our terrible secret.”

“Then how do you explain September Aureus?” Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow, and Logan sighed.

“She’s just an outlier,” he replied.

“So,” Tsvetana interjected, leaning forward and holding her hand up. “ _Can_ I call you your name now? Also,” she turned to her brother, “Logan, you forgot to introduce me.”

“Sorry,” Logan said, sighing. “This is my sister, Svetana. She’s a first-year, obviously.”

“Hi Svetana,” Hazel said, waving.

“Yeah. My name’s Virgil,” Virgil said, flashing a quick peace sign to Hazel and Tsetsiliya.

“Question before we go any further, are you like, out? In general?” Hazel asked. Virgil shook his head, and Hazel nodded. “So… what should we call you, to people you aren’t out to?”

“Mel,” he replied.

Hazel squinted at him. “So, since there’s only two in our year whose names could be shortened to Mel, you have to either be Laurel or White. Since Melissa White’s hair is blonde and has a texture vaguely like overcooked pasta, you have to be Mel Laurel, which, okay, I was not expecting.” She looked at Logan. “How long have you two been friends?”

“Who says I’m in your year?” Virgil asked, and Hazel blinked, turning back to him.

“Oh no,” she whispered. “That adds… Camellia Stirling, Melanie Peterson, and Melissa Rey, although I doubt you’re Melissa Rey since she’s a third year. And… again, Camellia and Melanie don’t look enough like you. For one thing, Camellia’s _light-skinned_ , and Melanie is black, that leaves Mel Laurel, again.”

“Mel could be from a middle name,” Virgil countered. Hazel blinked, eyes wide, and shook her head.

“No,” she said. “You’re trying too hard to misdirect me. You’re Mel Laurel, which… surprises me.”

“Yeah, I got that from the words you said earlier, you know, those ones where you said that I wasn’t who you were expecting,” Virgil replied.

Hazel turned to Logan. “Is he always this snarky?” she asked, pointing at Virgil.

“He is an unapologetic arsehole,” Logan replied. Virgil rolled his eyes while Hazel snickered.

“The two of you must be real peas in a pod,” she said, and Logan made a choking noise.

“I am not—”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Hazel said. “You’re more of an unaware arsehole than an unapologetic one.” Svetana laughed at that while Logan spluttered next to her. Hazel turned back to Virgil.

“Okay, but seriously,” she asked. “How long have you and Logan been friends?”

“Second year,” he replied, shrugging. He winced as the train whistle blew, and a few moments later, it started moving, accelerating as it went.

“Fifth year, here we come!” Hazel cheered, pumping her fist in the air. She quieted and turned to Svetana. “First year, for some of us. Are you guys excited?”

“Yes!” Svetana replied, punching the air, too.

“Oh, god, she’s imprinting on you,” Logan said, staring in horror at his sister and housemate.

“It could be worse,” Virgil replied, shrugging. “She could be imprinting on, like, Remus Rey or something.”

Logan gave a full-body shudder at that. “No way she’d imprint on Remus Rey. She has common sense.”

“I’m a human, I don’t imprint,” Svetana herself said, her voice quiet.

The train ride passed much like that. Hazel and Logan did the vast majority of the talking while Tsetsiliya and Virgil sat and watched them quietly. Svetana, at one point, pulled out a copy of Lord of the Rings (Virgil had read it before, disguised at a Potions book), and started reading it.

When they were about half an hour out from the station, everyone changed into their school robes, doing their best not to bump elbows and knock each other over. They’d decided as a group that they honestly couldn’t find a single damn to give about all of them changing together and so none of that ‘boys leave while girls change and vice versa’ stuff happened.

Virgil kept his hair down and hanging in his face as they left the train and did his best to surreptitiously slip away from the rest of the group and into a group of Slytherins he could (usually) stand, consisting of Evelyn Hightower and Gwyneira Winterborne.

“Oh, there you are, Mel,” Evelyn said, turning to look over at Virgil. She was one of the few people who could stare Virgil in the eye without having to look up. “Did you have a good train ride?”

“Yeah,” Virgil replied, switching to the slightly higher ~~(where his voice naturally was ugh)~~ voice he used around anyone who wasn’t Logan (or, he guessed, Svetana, Hazel, and Tsetsiliya were included in that group now). “It was okay. How was yours?”

“Boring,” Evelyn replied, rolling her eyes. “I can’t wait until I’m old enough to petition to break off the betrothal. Trevelyan Aureus is one of the most truly horrible people I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”

“I sat with them,” Gwyneira said. She was a study in contrasts to the other two, short where they were tall and light-haired where they were not. Her eyes were silver, the same shade as Virgil’s right eye, which made sense, since they both came from the same bloodline. The silver eyes were a trademark of Winterborne blood, and considering Virgil’s paternal grandmother was a Winterborne, he came by the silver honestly. “She’s right about Trevelyan. I’m glad that Roryn is, at least, bearable.”

“Watch it,” Evelyn said, no bite to her tone, “that’s my cousin you’re talking about. What about you, Mel? Did you at least try sitting with your… betrothed, on the ride? ...Hopefully... Your betrothed... comes back around soon.”

Virgil shrugged. “September can be whoever she wants, I really don’t care. I’ve never _wanted_ to marry her, so it doesn’t really matter, anyways.”

“Your grandfather doesn’t really strike me as the type to accept petitions…” Evelyn said.

“I can always tell him she’s a blood-traitor. It’s true enough; the only reason it hasn’t been broken off already is because no one’s bothered to tell _him_ that,” Virgil replied.

Gwyneira frowned and looked up at him as they came to where the carriages were waiting. Gwyneira and Evelyn, and almost everyone he knew, had called them horseless before.

He knew better.

He’d seen the thestrals since he was in his first year.

“Why haven’t you told him, then, if that’d break it off?” She was the first to climb up into the carriage, followed by Virgil and then Evelyn.

“He’d just find another, and then I’d have to figure out how to break _that_ one off, too,” he replied.

“Fair enough,” Evelyn said.

They continued to talk all the way up to the castle, catching up on what happened over the summer, what their families were up to, just standard banal chit-chat. That continued until they were in the Great Hall, sitting down, when it became too loud.

Virgil sat on his own, at the far end of the table, as he often did. Normally, he’d choose to sit so his back was to the wall, but starting in fourth year, he’d started sitting on the Ravenclaw side of the table, so that he could at least pretend to be sitting by Logan.

(Logan had started sitting at the end of his table, too, when he’d done that.)

That left Gwyneira and Evelyn to go find the rest of their year group, up closer to the head table.

There were a couple other kids sat at the end as well: Kennedy Goyle, a second-year whose exile was as self-imposed as Virgil’s, and Llyr Vaughan, who was in the same year as Virgil and held the dubious honor of being Slytherin’s only muggleborn student.

It was a strange camaraderie that the three of them had. They didn’t talk often, but sometimes all three of them would eat at the same time, or Kennedy would have a question that needed an older student to answer it, or Llyr and Virgil would awkwardly ask each other to a study session in the library.

(Llyr was the only other student Virgil had considered coming out to before Hazel, Svetana, and Tsetsiliya were involved.)

The three of them barely paid attention as the first years entered, led by Professor McGonagall, who carried the Sorting Hat and its stool. Virgil wouldn’t’ve paid any attention at all, except he knew that Svetana was being Sorted, so he had to at least listen for her name to be called once the song was done.

She was in the upper half of the list, so Virgil didn’t have to wait long for Professor McGonagall to call “Daskalov, Svetana” to the stool.

From the corner of his eye, Virgil could see Logan watching intently as Professor McGonagall put the Sorting Hat on her head. Logan’s other sister at Hogwarts, Nichole, was sitting next to him, also watching. Would Svetana go in the same house as her older siblings, or somewhere else? Virgil didn’t know much about her, but she had said during the train ride that from what she heard, Ravenclaw would be a good fit for her.

The moment seemed to drag on for ages but was, in reality, only about two minutes. At last, the hat finally opened the rip near its brim…

“SLYTHERIN!”

Wait, what? Virgil twitched, his eyes widening, watching as Svetana pulled the hat off her head and set it on the stool behind her before turning and walking, very purposefully, to the Slytherin table with the backing of a smattering of applause.

She walked all the way down the length of the table, bypassing the special first year spot near the head table, to the end where Virgil, Kennedy, and Llyr sat. She didn’t say a word as she sat down next to Virgil, across the table from the other two.

“So,” she whispered, leaning over towards Virgil, “tell me what I need to know to be a Slytherin.”

“Not being muggleborn would be a start,” he hissed back. “Did you even _try_ to argue it into another house?”

“I argued it _into_ Slytherin.”

Virgil’s hands clenched into fists and he took a deep breath.

“Seriously? Do you have a death wish?” he asked, his voice harsh.

“No,” Svetana replied, shaking her head. “I just know where _I_ want to be, and so I’m going to be there, whether or not people _want_ me there.”

“With that attitude, you should be Gryffindor.” Virgil rolled his eyes.

At the shushing of a nearby non-Kennedy second year, both Virgil and Svetana shut up.

The sorting concluded with Zilberschlag, Eli into Hufflepuff, and Professor Dumbledore stood and raised his hands.

The hall fell completely silent. You could hear a pin drop from the other side of Gryffindor table.

“Good evening,” Professor Dumbledore said, smiling down at the group of students. “Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts! I trust you have sufficiently forgotten everything you needed to forget over the summer and have returned with space in your brains for everything new you’ll learn this year!”

He paused and then made a sweeping gesture with his arm to the students’ right. “We are joined this year by Professor Delores Umbridge, here to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts! I know you’ll learn much from her, and I’d like to remind you that betting on how the Defense professor will be removed this year is strictly prohibited.”

Virgil had actually won one of his pools last year by betting that Professor Moody was secretly some dark wizard in disguise, infiltrating the school to enact some sort of convoluted, ultimately useless evil plan.

…Yeah, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d been right, either.

“And, with that settled, eat well!” Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands twice and sat down as food appeared on the tables and the hall seemed to break into a roar.

“So, two pieces of advice,” Virgil said, leaning over to hiss in Svetana’s ear as she dished up roast beef for herself, “always watch your back, and always have everything you care about warded and booby-trapped. I can help you with that second one until you learn how to do it yourself.”

Svetana paused and looked up at Virgil. “Would they really mess with my stuff?”

“Have you never been bullied before?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “There’s no chance they won’t.”

“If you want the good tips,” Llyr said, draping himself across the table. “You can always ask me. I bet Miss Pureblood Princess there hasn’t had much experience defending herself from bullies.”

 _You’d be surprised_ , he thought to himself. His only physical response was an eyeroll.

Dinner continued, and Svetana stayed with them, even after the prefects called for the first years. It was a good call, one that neither Llyr or Virgil suggested. They probably would’ve lost her the same way they’d ‘accidentally’ lost Llyr back in his first year.

When Virgil, Kennedy, and Llyr finally stood, that was when Svetana got up. Virgil could see Logan glancing over, taking notice of the activity, and briefly meeting Virgil’s eyes. Virgil gave him the smallest of nods in return.

Yes, he’d take care of Svetana, no matter what.


	2. so many bright lights that cast a shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of classes is interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warnings: misgendering and deadnaming (Virgil is closeted and, as such, is consistently referred to in dialogue by his deadname and with the wrong pronouns by people he isn't out to); brief mention of injury and possible death (in dialogue); anxiety; pureblood supremacy and bigotry; Snape and his terrible teaching; spider mention; references to death (thestrals)
> 
> chapter title from Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance

Unfortunately, classes started the very next day. That was just how it happened when the first fell on a Sunday.

Which meant that Virgil was getting up early so he could give Svetana the quickest of all tours through the castle, at least enough of a tour so that she could get to her classes without getting too terribly lost.

Why was he sacrificing his extra hour and a half of sleep to escort an eleven-year-old who had way too many thoughts and questions through the castle again? Seriously, she wouldn’t shut up, which was making it really hard for him to cram the whole thing into just and hour and a half.

“Okay but why do the staircases move?” Svetana asked. She was holding a notebook and pen, staring around with wide eyes. Virgil’s shoulders were hunched as he walked ahead of her, and he rolled his eyes.

“’Cause magic,” he replied.

“But couldn’t that be dangerous?” she asked. “Like, what if someone’s on it when it moves, and they lose their balance and fall down the stairs? Or over the side?”

He grit his teeth and his next sentence came out strained. “That’s why you _always_ hold the handrail.”

There was a pause before Svetana spoke again. “Have you fallen down them while they moved?”

_Yes_. “No,” he bit back at her. Never mind the fact that had happened to him on his first day of class in his first year, in front of what was basically his entire year and then some.

The sharpness of his tone seemed to throw her off for a moment before she caught herself again.

“Okay, but what about the trick steps?” she asked.

He sighed. “The answer to most of your questions is gonna be ‘cause magic’. Does it make sense?” he shrugged and shook his head. “No. Does that suck? Yeah, a bit! But that’s just the way it is.”

“Well, that’s stupid.” He glanced back in time to see Svetana shut her notebook, cross her arms, and shake her head. He looked forward again as they continued to walk. “Why do something if it makes no sense? Especially in a school? Why is the school this dangerous, anyways? Logan and Nichole have told me stories, but—”

She ran into Virgil’s back with an oof. He had stopped without warning, and she hadn’t noticed, wrapped up in her rant. She shook herself and peered around him, coming face-to-face with a trio of Gryffindors.

“Savage. Sasaki.” Virgil said, addressing the two on the left, and then pausing and swallowing before addressing the one on the right. “September.”

“Mel.” September’s voice was hard as she glared at him, her hands on her hips. Her hair, which was about chin-length and dark red, was pulled back in a half-pony. She turned to look down at Svetana. “And Daskalov, right?”

Svetana nodded. “My name’s Svetana,” she said.

“You have an older brother and sister in Ravenclaw, right?” Patton Sasaki stepped forwards, his hands clasped in front of him as he smiled at her. “Logan and Nichole?”

Svetana nodded.

“Every offense intended,” Remington Savage stepped in front of Patton. She towered over him, but was still a solid five inches shorter than Virgil, so she had to glare up at him. “But what are you doing running around the castle on your own with a muggleborn first-year, hm? I didn’t think you were _blood traitor_ material.”

“H- ah, uh, Mel was just showing me around before classes,” Svetana said, wringing her hands.

“And why would she do that?” September asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Believe it or not, I’m not _actually_ heartless,” Virgil snapped.

September grinned, but it felt more like she was baring her fangs at them. “Oh, _I_ know that. I think I almost _had_ your heart at one point.” Dropping the smile, she sighed. “Okay. Enough games. I know what your family’s like. I know what your friends are like. Speaking plainly, I’m concerned about Svetana. We _all_ are.” She gestured at Patton and Remington, who both nodded.

Virgil said nothing in response to that, and neither did Svetana, who continued wringing her hands as she glanced between the four fifth-years who were staring each other down.

Finally, Patton was the first to move.

“Svetana, honey,” he said, stepping forward. He glanced up at Virgil from the corner of his eyes, like he was scared of him, which. Okay. Virgil was tall, and he wore dark eyeliner and the edgiest fucking eyeshadow, and he was grumpy and sarcastic and kind of mean sometimes, but he was hardly scary.

Virgil returned the side-eye, making no move other than that.

Patton swallowed. “Svetana,” he said again, and she startled a bit as she realized, oh, hey, maybe he doesn’t want to talk to her while she’s half-hidden behind Virgil, so she stepped out from behind him.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“I want you to know, no matter what,” Patton said, catching her gaze and holding it there. His dark brown eyes were incredibly serious. “That you can come to me for anything. Anything at all. Advice, a hug, if you need someone to fistfight god for you I can send Remy and Sep. I just.” He fidgeted with his hands and glanced at Virgil again, who was staring at him from the corner of his eyes, as vaguely disgruntled as ever.

“I just need you to know that,” he said. “Do you understand? You can come to me for anything?”

She paused for a moment, frowning. “You’re Patton Sasaki, right?” she asked. At his nod, she continued. “Logan and Nichole have told me about you. Alright. I understand.”

A tension in Patton seemed to release, and his shoulders sagged. Remington leaned over his shoulder, grinning down at Svetana, the same flesh-eating smile that September had shown a couple minutes earlier.

“Have they told you about me?” she asked. “Remington Savage?”

“Yes,” Svetana nodded. “Logan’s called you, on more than one occasion, a feral bitch.”

Virgil stifled a snort of amusement while Remington burst out laughing, leaning on Patton’s shoulder to keep her balance.

“I’d say that’s an accurate summary,” Virgil muttered, smirking at Remington. He spared a moment to glance down at the watch on his wrist. “We should probably get going though, you haven’t seen the Transfiguration classroom and you still need time to eat. I can show you the Astronomy tower later, since you don’t have that class until Thursday.”

Svetana nodded. “It was nice meeting you, Patton,” she said, following Virgil as he took off. He was walking a little faster than he had been, and she had to jog to keep up.

“See you around, Svetana!” Patton called after them, and she paused to turn and wave at him before jogging after Virgil again.

Ugh. Virgil shook himself again, trying to shake off the weird feeling leftover from his run-in with Remington, Patton, and September. Evelyn gave him a concerned look.

“Mel?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

“Just _great_ , thanks,” he snapped, and then shook his head. “At least we have Potions with _Ravenclaw_ this year. Imagine if we got paired up with Gryffindor, _again_.”

“We’re only with Gryffindor for Transfiguration,” Gwyneira said, staring down at the sheet of parchment with her schedule on it. “Weird. They usually try to cram Gryffindor and Slytherin together for as many classes as they can get away with it.”

“Thank Merlin for the break,” Evelyn said, shuddering. “I think I’d _scream_ if I had to sit through another Potions class with Remus Rey.”

“What, were the constantly exploding cauldrons too much for you?” Virgil asked, sneering at nothing in particular. “I can’t _wait_ to hear about what sort of fight he and his brother get into. Both Rey twins, in the same Potions class? I’ll be amazed if there are no casualties.”

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” Gwyneira whispered, her hands dropping and her eyes staring straight forward. “I hadn’t even considered that.”

More would’ve been said, but they reached the crowd gathering outside the Potions classroom. Logan briefly caught Virgil’s eye and nodded, ever-so-slightly, at him. Virgil inclined his chin back.

They didn’t have to wait long for the heavy oak door to open, hinges as silent as ever. The Ravenclaws entered first, and the class split up into table groups. There was a neat line between the Ravenclaw half of the room and the Slytherin half, the same as had existed when Slytherin and Gryffindor had it together.

Virgil’s table group consisted of himself, Evelyn, Gwyneira, and Llyr, as it always had.

What was strange was that Llyr moved over and partnered with _Virgil_ rather than Gwyneira, who was usually his Potions class partner. They didn’t say anything to each other, just eyed each other suspiciously as they waited for class to start.

“Your OWLs are this year.” Professor Snape’s voice was, as always, as smooth and soft as silk as he stalked through the students. Virgil fought the way his shoulders hunched in a desperate, _unneeded_ attempt to protect his neck, but ultimately, he failed against the sheer power of his anxiety as it shot of warning bells in his mind—Danger! Danger! Snape’s a threat!

“Thanks, we really needed that reminder.”

The entire class froze and turned, as one, to stare at the Ravenclaw who had made the remark. He looked entirely unruffled. Virgil recognized him as Kody Longstaff, someone who Logan was inclined to complain about at length.

“Five points from Ravenclaw for your interruption, Mr. Longstaff,” Professor Snape said. Kody met his glare head-on before looking down to glare at his lap. Professor Snape lingered for a moment in his victory before moving on.

“Most, if not all of you, are absolutely hopeless, and will no doubt fail the exam,” he drawled. “There are a few of you, however, who have potential.” Here, he paused, and glanced around the room. Virgil couldn’t help but notice the only students he glanced at were all Slytherins, and his stomach writhed like a nest of disturbed spiders when he noticed Professor Snape looking at _him_.

“This is for the good of those students,” Professor Snape continued, blinking and looking away. “There are some of the rest of you who might, somehow, scrape your way to a passing grade. Keep in mind that you must pass your OWL with a grade of E or higher to continue onto NEWT-level Potions.”

He let that stamen hang in the air for a moment, and Virgil caught sight of Logan setting his shoulders and glaring, determination carved into his expression, at Professor Snape.

Well. They could expect a record-breaking OWL score in Potions this year.

“With that out of the way,” Professor Snape said, drawing attention fully back to himself. “Let us begin.” He flicked his wand, and a recipe scrawled itself up on the board.

Virgil was alone, at first, after he split from Evelyn and Gwyneira to head to Arithmancy. That didn’t last long as both Logan and Llyr approached him at the same time.

“The _audacity_!” Logan snarled, adjusting the way the neckline of his robes fell. “At least when I had Potions with Hufflepuff, there was no way to tell that he favored _an entire house_ over the others!”

Virgil’s voice was dry as he replied. “You should’ve seen some of the classes we had with Gryffindor. He _hates_ Gryffindor.”

“Ugh.” Logan shook his head, glaring ahead.

“So, like,” Llyr began, drawing the attention of the other two boys as he pointed, first at Virgil, then at Logan. “I have so many questions now. I didn’t think someone from a family like the Laurels would be caught dead being nice to muggleborns, and here she is, walking nicely with us. She was even nice to Daskalov last night.”

“Svetana’s my younger sister,” Logan replied.

Llyr shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Oh, yes, that _totally_ answers _all_ my questions, thank you.”

Virgil shrugged and didn’t add anything, and after a few moments, Llyr huffed and crossed his arms.

“Fine. Whatever. Don’t tell me anything. I’m fine being left out of the loop.”

“You know,” Logan said, looking up at Virgil. “I think we’ve finally found someone more sarcastic than you.”

“Is that a challenge?” Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow.

Logan shook his head. “No, no it is not. I don’t think I could handle any more sarcasm than I already am right now.”

Virgil groaned. “ _Fiiiine_.”

They reached the Arithmancy classroom and found a table together in the back. Logan had been about to head for the front, but stopped and turned around when he realized that Virgil and Llyr were not following him.

It didn’t take long for all the Arithmancy students to arrive. Like all electives, it was comprised of students from all four houses, and out of all the electives, it was regularly the smallest since it was considered the most difficult one to do well in. There were maybe fifteen students in it, in total, and most of them were Ravenclaws, including Tsetsiliya and Hazel, who sat at a table near the three boys.

Virgil and Llyr had to split with Logan after Arithmancy, since the two Slytherin boys had Charms with Hufflepuff while Logan had History of Magic with Gryffindor.

“So,” Llyr said. The two of them were alone, for the moment. “Are you going to be more forthcoming with answers now?”

Virgil pretended to think about it for a moment and then shrugged. “Nah.”

Llyr huffed. “I _figured_ that would be your answer.”

“If you knew _that_ , then why did you _ask_?” Virgil asked, voice dripping with snark.

“You’re just a sarcastic feral bastard, aren’t you?”

A laugh escaped Virgil before he could hold it back, and he smacked a hand over his mouth. He spared a moment to be happy that he gave off bastard energies instead of bitch energies before firing back.

“It could be worse, I could be some sort of sassy tax-evading bitch like you.”

Llyr gasped. “How dare you suggest I evade taxes! I am a law-abiding citizen!”

“Suuure,” Virgil drawled, raising an eyebrow. “The same way _every_ Slytherin is.”

The two of them continued trading semi-insults as they walked until they could hear the voices of the other students. Llyr and Virgil fell silent, acting like they were walking together out of sheer happenstance rather than choice.

Why hadn’t Virgil ever tried to actually _talk_ to Llyr before?

Okay, well, he knew why, but he didn’t have time to unpack all that, as Evelyn and Gwyneira stepped up next to him, splitting Llyr away from him.

Evelyn groaned. “You’re so lucky,” she said. “Divination was so _boring_.”

“It’s not my fault you wanted to take the easy O’s,” Virgil snapped, shrugging.

“You could at least _pretend_ to be sympathetic,” Gwyneira said, frowning.

“Never,” Virgil replied as the door to the classroom opened and everyone entered.

Where the dungeons of Slytherin and Potions and Snape were dark, cramped, and dank, the classroom of Charms and Ravenclaw and Flitwick were bright, spacious, and airy. The group of Virgil, Evelyn, and Gwyneira (along with their ever-present Llyr-shaped tagalong) sat in the back of the classroom.

It filled quickly, and Virgil watched an almost-late Emily Picani run in, pause, and then disgruntledly take one of the last seats open, which was towards the back.

Professor Flitwick began speaking at 1100 on the dot.

“Welcome back!” he said. “It’s a pleasure to have you all back for another year of schooling. As I’m sure every other professor has and will be reminding you, this is your OWL year! You’re going to need to work hard, but I’m confident that with dedication, every single one of you can pass the exam. Even,” here he paused and looked at a Hufflepuff student who was notoriously terrible at Charms. He smiled reassuringly at them, “if Charms are not your strong suit. Now, with that out of the way, did everyone have a good summer?”

There was a general murmur of affirmatives.

“Mr. Roman Rey,” Professor Flitwick said, nodding at the short blond-haired Hufflepuff at the front of the classroom. “I remember seeing you at the Harpies versus Kestrels game this summer. What are you thoughts? Were you there for the Harpies or Kestrels?”

“Harpies, definitely,” Roman replied, nodding. “My Aunt Regina plays for them.”

“Ah, yes, I remember now!” the professor replied, clapping his hands together. “She’s a wonder to watch—truly an awe-inspiring beater. Oh, I remember the points she cost my Ravenclaws when she was playing against them. Now, ah, Miss Queenie Moorwood—how was your summer?”

“It was… It was good,” she replied, nodding. “My father was promoted.”

“Your father is Emyr, correct?” Professor Flitwick asked, not waiting for an answer. “I remember being very proud of him when I first heard he got hired by the Department of Mysteries! Miss Emily Picani,” he moved on, walking towards the back of the room. “How was your summer?”

“It was great!” Emily replied, earlier bad mood seemingly forgotten. “I got to shadow my mum during some of her research and I got to spend a week with Roisin and her family.” She grinned towards the front of the class, where the Hufflepuff girl in question turned and waved back at her friend.

“That sounds fun!” Professor Flitwick replied. “Now, sadly, review is probably not as fun as going to a Harpies game or spending a week at your friend’s house, but we must do it anyways. Can anyone summarize the last topic we covered together for me?”

Several students raised their hands, including Evelyn. Professor Flitwick called on them one at a time, and each student answered with some slightly different take on it. A short summary of each student’s point wrote itself onto the blackboard at the front of the class.

The class seemed to pass quickly, way quicker than Potions had. The period had been mostly review, with the exception of Professor Flitwick covering the expected schedule for the term.

Llyr didn’t follow the rest of the group down to the Great Hall, and Virgil watched his back for a few moments as he hurried off in the direction of the library.

“Mel! Are you coming?” Evelyn asked, and Virgil shook himself.

“Yeah,” he said, turning and following her and Gwyneira down for lunch. He found himself looking over his shoulder often, mind stuck on Llyr and what he could be doing.

Virgil’s first class of the afternoon, Runes, passed without incidence. It, like Arithmancy, was seen as one of the harder electives, so fewer students took it. He shared it with Logan again, as well as Gwyneira and Llyr. The trio of Patton, Remington, and September had it, and Roman sat with them at the front of the class. Honestly, the only weird thing was the strange looks that group kept throwing over their shoulders at him.

Now, unlike a lot of students, Virgil took a third elective, just for the hell of it. There were a few who did, mostly Ravenclaws and Slytherins, but it wasn’t unheard of for students from other houses to take three.

That elective happened to be the Care and Keeping of Magical Creatures, which was one of the largest class sizes since, like every elective, it included students from all four houses.

It was also one of the most popular electives, and one of the few classes that bot Remus and Roman Rey had together.

This meant that the entire class, regardless of political ideas, house, blood status, and normal lines of enmity, conspired to keep the two of them as far apart as possible.

A result of that was that Virgil found himself standing near the Gryffindor trio and Roman, with Evelyn standing between them as a sort of buffer.

“Hello, Evelyn,” Roman said, dipping his head politely to her. She returned his greeting, equally as polite.

“Welcome back to another year!”

It was hard to miss Professor Hagrid’s approach, but the man’s boomy greeting still caused Virgil to twitch at the sheer volume of it.

“I got sommat special for the first class this term,” he said. “We’re gonna go a little ways into the forest for this, not that far, no need to worry. Come on, follow me!”

The group of students followed him, traipsing through the trees together. He was right: they didn’t go far, and he stopped and let the group fan out behind him.

“Here we are,” he said.

“What _exactly_ are we supposed to be looking at, again?” Remington asked.

“Well,” Professor Hagrid said, tossing a steak into the herd of thestrals in front of him, “not all of you will be _able_ to look at them.”

The group of students gasped as they watched the steak seemingly disappear into thin air.

“ _What_ ,” September gasped, “was that?”

“Now, can anyone tell me what we have here?” Professor Hagrid asked. For a moment, no one raised their hands, until Virgil, against his better judgment, did so. The professor’s eyes widened for a moment. “Yes, Miss Laurel?”

“They’re thestrals,” he replied, putting his hand down. “You can only see them if you’ve seen someone die.”

Professor Hagrid nodded. “Yep. Five points to Slytherin. Now, if you can see them, raise your hand.”

Emily Picani was the first to do so, refusing to look anywhere but the ground as she raised her hand. A couple other students followed suit, and then, after a couple moments, so did Virgil.

“So five of you,” Professor Hagrid said, nodding to himself. “A little more than usual. Normally we only have one or two.”

The class continued from there, with Professor Hagrid covering their habits and habitats and even bringing a few brave students forward to pet them. Virgil did so without fear—despite their appearances, the thestrals were nice, and he’d had a few encounters with them before. Remus, of course, was very ready to go up and pet the death pegasi, and Virgil could even hear him talking to his friends about how he might arrange it so that he could see them, maybe without having to commit murder, but you never know.

Roman and Patton were two of the other students who stepped forward to touch them, and even Emily did so, after some cajoling from Roman and Roisin.

As the group of students walked back into the castle, Virgil split off from the group, hoping to head up to the library to meet with Logan there. Alas, that was not to be. He felt his shoulders start to draw themselves up towards his ears as Patton, Remington, Roman, and September approached him.

“So! You’ve seen someone die?” September asked, leaning forward, way too close into his space. “I didn’t know that about you!”

“Yeah, well, you don’t know everything about me,” Virgil snapped back, leaning away from her. “Now leave me alone.”

“Ugh,” September groaned, backing off a few inches and rolling her eyes. “Look, Mel, that sucks. I just wanted to say that, whoever it was, I’m sorry that happened.”

Virgil looked back at her, brow furrowed. “Why do you care now?” he asked.

September shrugged and looked at the ground. “Hell if I know. This is obviously a waste of my time. Let’s go boys,” she said, turning to her entourage. Virgil paused to watch them walk away and didn’t continue until he was sure they were gone.

Logan was at the table that was unofficially Theirs when Virgil arrived, groaning as he dropped his bag on the table and himself into a chair.

“I take it the day has been less than ideal,” Logan said, not even looking up from whatever book he was reading.

Virgil shrugged, making a non-committal grunt. The two of them sat for a few moments without any more words passing between them, until Virgil had gathered most the words he wanted to say in his brain. “It’s could’ve been worse, I guess. It was just… odd. You know what thestrals are?”

“Of course,” Logan replied. “Why is that—oh. You must have covered those in Care of Magical Creatures today. How many in the class could see them?”

“Five of us.”

Several moments passed, and then—

“Oh. _Oh_.” Logan looked up from his book and over at Virgil. “May I ask who?”

Virgil shook his head. Logan nodded, and they sat there in silence for a few moments.

“That’s not even the odd part,” Virgil said, crossing his arms and wishing he had his hoodie so that he could shove his hands in his pockets. “The odd part is that September came up to me afterwards and _offered her condolences_. And then called it a waste of time.”

“Those aren’t mixed signals at all,” Logan said.

Virgil nodded, not quite sure what he wanted to reply to that. Logan took that as his cue to get back to reading, and Virgil pulled his bag closer and reached into it to pull out a muggle-style notebook. Logan had given it to him, and the first couple of pages actually had some of Logan’s random notes on things he wanted to research. Logan said he had way too many notebooks anyways, and if Virgil ever wanted another (which he definitely would) he was welcome to ask for another.

The notebook, as it were, was half-filled with runes and notes on warding and half-finished ward schemes. What he was looking for was actually on the very last page, marked by a purple tag.

It was a very simple ward scheme, first sketched into the book in pencil and then traced over in purple pen (another gift from Logan). The ward itself was inactive but the map, the arrangement of runes and symbols that dictated the purpose and effects of a ward, was beautiful and still some of Virgil’s best work. It was the same ward he used to protect everything material that he cared about.

And now he was going to give it to Svetana.

He hadn’t let Logan even _glance_ at the map, _that_ was how protective he was over it.

And yet, here he was, about to copy it down to give to Svetana.

Rather than stop to consider that further and freak himself out or double guess it, he spoke.

“Do you have any copy paper?”

Logan wordlessly pulled a sheet of copy paper out of his folder and handed it over. A quick sticking charm affixed it over the original map, and he pulled out the same purple pen to trace it.

…Honestly he could probably free-hand it. He had the whole map memorized, and his hand (when drawing maps at least) was rock-steady.

Better not to risk it, though.

Virgil found Svetana while she was leaving the Great Hall.

“Oh, hey, come with me for a sec,” he said. “I have something for you.”

“Oh?” she asked, perking up. He tried to ignore the way she looked like she had been crying not too long ago.

“Yeah,” he said, making a ‘follow me’ gesture. He only headed one hall over and into an empty classroom, casting a quick privacy charm. With that done, he pulled the sheet of copy paper out of his bag and handed it over to Svetana. “This is the same protection ward that I use on my stuff. It should work the same for yours, too.”

She took it from his hand and looked down at it, face twisting in confusion. “How do I use it?”

“…I was getting there. You’re going to need to get some of your blood on it, and then activate it. Um, activating a ward is…” he scratched the back of his neck, considering the best way to explain it. He couldn’t look to any of his teachers about how to explain it, since warding wasn’t even a class taught at Hogwarts, and he had been five the first time he had activated one, so he couldn’t exactly remember how his mother had taught him.

“It’s… like casting a spell? Have you cast your first one yet?”

“Yes.”

Virgil nodded, one of his hands rising to start twirling a lock of hair. “Well, it’s a lot like that. At first, it’ll help to put your hand on the map—that’s the thing I just handed you—and say some sort of… activation word like, I don’t know, you can probably just say _activate_ as long as the intention is there. It can help if you can visualize your magic flowing into the map? That’s what I do for some of the most complicated wards I’ve made.”

“Alright,” Svetana said, slipping the paper with the map on it into her bag. “What do I do with the paper?”

“Uh, just like… stick it? Or tape it, I guess, to the inside of your trunk,” he replied. “Oh, and, don’t let _anyone_ see the map, okay? I don’t want to make it easier for people to break through it.”

Svetana nodded. “So what exactly does the ward do?”

Virgil grinned. It wasn’t a nice expression. “As long as their blood hasn’t been added to the ward, they won’t even be able to notice your stuff. Even if they know it’s there. Their eyes will just slide right over it. Of course, this ward has a bit more _kick_ to it if they _do_ try to get in than your standard notice-me-nots.”

Svetana’s eyes were wide as she looked up at him.

“Thank you,” she said.

Virgil shrugged. “Yeah. Don’t mention it,” he brushed her off.

They left the classroom together and split up, Svetana to head down to the Slytherin dorms and Virgil to head into the Great Hall, where he sat down with Evelyn, Gwyneira, and Roryn to eat dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, now we've been introduced to Remus, Roman, Patton, Remy, September, Deceit, and Emile. I'm doing some genderblending here for the sake of not having a cast made up of all guys.  
> this chapter was originally going to be split in two parts, but i'm glad i waited to post because i feel like it works better as one.  
> if you enjoyed, please leave a kudos! if you're up to it, leave a comment letting me know what you thought! i love hearing from the people who read my stuff.  
> with love,  
> kestrel daniel  
> (he/him, they/them, fae/faer)


	3. raise your voice every single time they try and shut your mouth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ravenclaw and Slytherin have Defense together. Logan has chronic cannot-shut-up disease, and now it's spread to Virgil, too, oh no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title from SING by My Chemical Romance.
> 
> content warnings: misgendering/deadnaming (Virgil is still In The Closet); Umbridge; confrontation; infantilization (umbridge refers to a fifteen-year-old arguing with her as throwing a tantrum); references to physical injury and abuses of power; bullying and bigotry

The Hogwarts rumor mill was absolutely _frenzied_ over the new Defense teacher.

“She said there’s not going to be any practicals!” a Hufflepuff third year yelled. Virgil winced at the volume, especially in the packed hallway. He was just leaving Transfiguration, whose classroom happened to be in the busiest hallway in the school.

“No practicals?” Evelyn said, frowning. “He can’t be telling the truth, can he?”

“Well, we’re about to find out,” Virgil replied, letting Evelyn and Gwyneira shove into the crowd first and then following in the brief gap in people they left behind them.

The three of them plus Llyr sat in their customary spots in the back of the room. They shared the class with Ravenclaw, and as Virgil entered, he caught sight of Logan sitting near the front of the room with Hazel and Tsetsiliya.

The class was mostly settled and just goofing off with each other when Professor Umbridge walked in. The sheer amount of pink she was wearing was even worse up close than it had been at the feast, and Virgil wanted to throw up at the way she looked at the class, as if she thought they were babies, little kids who would worship at her feet.

“Good morning, students!” she chirped, setting her books down on her desk at the front of the room. She got some discontented grumbling in response and pursed her lips, frowning at them. “Now, that just won’t do. I expect a bright and enthusiastic ‘Good morning, Professor Umbridge!’ in return. Shall we try that again? Good morning, students!”

“Good morning, Professor Umbridge.” Virgil refrained from saying anything, and the rest of the voices were decidedly not the bright and enthusiastic welcome she’d asked for. She looked way too disappointed.

“I’m sure you’ll… improve, with time! After all, it _is_ just my first day and I’m a brand-new teacher to you! I’m sure we’ll all be great friends as we get to know each other.”

“Now,” she flicked her wand and the chalk started writing on the board. “Our classes will be structured a little differently than you’re used to. You will have readings. Those readings will be given at the end of each class and must be completed before the next time we meet. Our meeting time will consist of lecture plus note-taking.”

“What about practicals?” Kody asked.

“Please raise your hand before speaking next time, Mr…?”

“Longstaff.”

“Mr. Longstaff. I will do my best to offer you all the utmost respect you deserve as developing young witches and wizards, and in return, I only ask that you do the same. Always raise your hand before speaking. Now. We will not have any practicals—”

“What?” Most of the class was involved in the outburst, and it took Professor Umbridge a couple minutes to calm everything down.

“Yes, yes, I know it’s unorthodox—”

Logan’s hand shot up. “Unorthodox? How are we supposed to safely learn what’s being lectured on if we’re not given the chance to practice it in class?”

“Please raise your hand before speaking next time, Mr…?”

“Daskalov,” Logan replied. “And I _did_. Raise my hand.”

Umbridge hmmphd. “All you need to learn is the lecture.”

Logan raised his hand again. “Yes, but how are we supposed to learn to _cast_ the spells?”

“You won’t need to use any of this unless you go into a career such as magical law enforcement,” Umbridge snapped back, her eyes narrowing.

_Please, shut up, Logan,_ Virgil thought, cringing to himself as Logan’s hand shot up again.

“We need to know how to for the purposes of self-defense—”

“Detention, Mr. Daskalov.”

Virgil could almost hear the way Logan’s mouth clicked shut for a moment as he processed what she just said.

“ _Excuse me_? Are you giving me detention for _asking questions_?”

“I am giving you detention for insolence. Meet me in my office tonight at 5:00.” She started turning away, but Logan wasn’t done with her.

“How is it insolence?” he snapped. “I’m asking questions because I don’t understand, and it’s _your_ job as professor to answer them!”

“Not when they are clearly asked in bad faith,” she replied. “If you cannot settle down, I will have no choice but to send you from class. I’m sure you’d enjoy a conversation with your head of house.”

“You know what?” Logan stood, slamming his hands down on the table in front of him, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor. “I _would_. I’ll see you tonight for _detention_.” Malice, anger, rage dripped off every syllable of that final word, and the whole class watched in stunned silence as Logan picked up his bag and left, striding down the aisle between the halves of the classroom. He briefly caught Virgil’s gaze, but Virgil’s brain was way too busy trying to catch up on events to acknowledge anything.

The door banged shut behind Logan and it was like a spell had settled over the class. Nobody moved, nobody twitched, nobody _breathed_ until Umbridge clasped her hands in front of her.

“Well.” She paused. “If anyone _else_ here is prone to throwing tantrums, please dismiss yourselves now.”

No one moved.

“Then we shall move on.”

Virgil actually spent the rest of the Defense class napping in short bursts. It was doable, considering he sat in the back of the room, and his hair hanging in front of his face did a good job of obscuring his expressions from anyone. He could barely make it through Herbology, buzzing with a frenetic energy. He wanted to go find Logan, right then, but he was probably in his own class and it would probably look bad on Virgil to miss his first Herbology class of OWL year. And even if he didn’t see Logan at lunch, he’d have Arithmancy with him that afternoon.

However, things worked out, and after practically inhaling his lunch, Virgil managed to hunt Logan down in the library.

“What the _hell_ ,” he hissed, sitting down next to Logan at their table. “Was _that_.”

“I’m going to need more context,” Logan replied.

“Defense class?” Virgil said, gesturing at nothing in particular. “What the actual fuck?”

“Oh. That.”

“Yeah,” Virgil nodded mockingly. “ _That_.”

Logan sighed. “Well. Part of _that_ was my anger issues. Although, even if I _didn’t_ have anger issues I probably would have left. I think she’s insufferable.”

Virgil groaned and buried his head in his hands. “ _You’re_ insufferable.”

“Now, I know _that’s_ not true,” Logan said. “Have you eaten yet?”

“Yeah,” Virgil replied, dropping his hands and looking up through his hair at Logan. “Have you?”

Logan’s lack of reply was answer enough and Virgil sighed. “Go eat.”

“Very well,” Logan said, standing. “I will see you for Arithmancy?”

“Of course,” Virgil nodded, and Logan left.

Virgil didn’t get to ask him about the detention until they were on their way to their Wednesday morning Arithmancy class from Potions. Llyr was walking with them, the same way he had on Monday.

“So what did Umbridge have you doing for detention?” Virgil asked. Llyr leaned over, the fakest disinterested look on his face.

“Just lines,” Logan replied, his right hand moving over to cover his left.

“Must’ve been a lot of lines,” Virgil remarked, looking at Logan’s hands. Logan twitched and moved his hands back to normal positions.

“Well, yes,” Logan said. “She had me there until almost curfew. I will, in fact, have detention with her all week.”

“Wait, _what_?” Virgil’s head snapped up to look at Logan’s face. “All week?”

“Well, I _did_ walk out and seriously disturb class,” Logan conceded, dipping his head. Llyr snorted.

“It was glorious to watch,” he said. “If it’s _just_ lines, _I_ might have to consider countering her shite.”

“Please _don’t_ ,” Virgil said, turning towards Llyr and missing the way Logan tensed at Llyr’s statement.

Llyr frowned for a couple moments. “You’re right,” he said. “Might as well leave it up to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw to rock this boat. Just sit back and watch the mayhem.”

They didn’t get a chance to continue speaking, as they had arrived at the Arithmancy classroom.

Virgil had barely left Care of Magical Creatures when Llyr appeared at his side, as if summoned. He side-eyed the shorter boy who just smirked back at him.

“Were you waiting for me to get out of class?” he asked. The smirk widened.

“Maybe so,” was the reply. “Would you like to work on today’s homework together?”

Virgil squinted at Llyr. What was his angle? “…I usually study with Logan.”

Llyr nodded. “I imagine he’s a lot of help.” He started to walk away, but Virgil spoke before he could.

“I don’t think he’d mind if you studied with us, though,” he said, and Llyr paused.

There was a moment, a beat of silence, and then Llyr turned around, a lopsided grin on his face.

“Moste excellente,” he said, and Virgil just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Come on,” he said, gesturing to Llyr. “We have a table that might as well have our name carved in it at the library.”

“Ooh, goody, a secret reserved library table,” Llyr said, rubbing his hands together and following just behind Virgil. Virgil sighed and rolled his eyes again.

Somehow, Logan managed to earn himself another two weeks of detention. Most days, Llyr joined Logan and Virgil in the library (before Logan had to go eat so that he could go to fucking detention--) and most days, Llyr and Virgil would continue to linger in the library until it was late and they risked missing dinner if they waited any longer. As the weeks dragged on, they noticed Logan’s hand seeming to get more and more sore, to the point where he would barely even _write_ with it.

“Have you even reported it?” Virgil asked. “It _has_ to be _some_ sort of policy violation to give detentions that are physically detrimental to students.”

“It will be fine,” Logan replied, shaking his head. “There’s no need to worry the other professors with it.”

“No, I’m with Mel,” Llyr said. “Making you write so many lines you can barely use your left hand for anything? That’s fucked up.”

Logan shook his head and didn’t say anything more, effectively shutting down the conversation.

Some days, after dinner, Virgil lingered in the common room until he was actually tired. Well, he was always tired, but that didn’t mean he was actually going to sleep.

It was on one of those nights that it happened. Virgil was sitting with Evelyn, Gwyneira, and Roryn, their Defense textbooks open in front of them as they struggled through their reading for tomorrow’s class. They had commandeered one of the couches in front of the fireplace, which happened to be prime Slytherin common room real estate, especially since it was the couch with a view into the lake—not that they could see anything out there, considering it was night and the waters were pitch black.

Most of the first years were sitting in The First Year Corner, which was the shittiest corner, furthest from the fireplace and lacking any direct view into the lake. Suffering through a year in The First Year Corner was a rite of passage, one that Virgil had suffered through, one that his younger brother Major had, and one that now his youngest brother (but not youngest sibling—Mirabelle was still only 9) was suffering through.

And, well, maybe Virgil was half watching Montgomery from the corner of his eyes. Montgomery was shy in a way that none of the Laurel siblings had been before him.

Something caught the first years’ eyes, and Virgil followed their looks to see Svetana exiting the door leading to the girls’ dorms. She paused and glanced around the common room, standing still for several moments before beginning to walk over towards the other first years.

“What do you think _you’re_ doing?” Waldo White snapped, looking up from his homework to glare at Svetana.

“Sitting here,” she replied, setting her textbook down on the table. She was acting like she was going to sit between Dexter Winterborne, who was Gwyneira’s younger brother, and Iris Giles. Neither looked like they _minded_ , particularly, but _Waldo_ sure did.

“No, you’re not,” he said. Bradley Aureus and Marceline Stirling both nodded and crossed their arms, backing him up. Several of the other purebloods nodded too.

“It sure looks like I am,” Svetana said as she sat down, sticking her chin up and glaring at Waldo.

Waldo’s gang stood up, and _wow_ , how quickly the fragile support of the other purebloods shattered. Dexter and Iris both scooted away real fast. Montgomery, for his part, looked like he might cry.

“ _Excuse_ me?” Waldo snarled. “Do I need to put you back in your place?”

“I _am_ in my place,” Svetana snapped, standing up and glaring at him. She was a few inches shorter than Waldo, but she squared her shoulders and her hands clenched into fists anyways.

Everyone in the common room was watching this, holding their breath, some of the older purebloods even egging Waldo on, and suddenly, Virgil wasn’t in his body anymore. Not in a magical meaning, but it was like he was watching from outside, like time had slowed and he was even more of a spectator than he already was.

Would the entire house just watch this happen? Waldo was starting to draw his wand, and no one was doing anything.

No one was going to do anything.

Virgil didn’t register what was being said, but as Waldo lifted his wand, Virgil drew his own and with a flick and muttered _expelliarmus_ , he was holding Waldo’s wand as the world rushed back into reality around him.

And everyone was staring at him.

“ _What_?” he snapped, glaring and baring his teeth at them. “Are we supposed to just _let_ people hex each other in the common room? I thought we were supposed to be the _superior_ house.”

No one replied, and he smacked Waldo’s wand down on the table in front of him. That broke the spell, and people started muttering as he picked up his book and bag and stalked off to the girls’ dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go! the ride's only going to get wilder from here :)

**Author's Note:**

> haha a new au? from me? never  
> i hope you enjoy! if you did, please leave a kudos. if you feel like it, please leave a comment! i love hearing from and interacting with everyone who reads my stuff.  
> With love,  
> Kestrel Daniel  
> (he/him, they/them, fae/faer)  
> Find me on tumblr at [orkestrations](https://orkestrations.tumblr.com/)


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